FOXBOROUGH – By now, going up against a backup quarterback
with little knowledge of how he operates is of a little consequence for the New
England Patriots.

Two weeks ago against Kansas City they were forced to face football
nomad Tyler Palko, who provided little resistance in the blowout.

Last week, it was Philadelphia backup Vince Young, a more
known commodity, but still somewhat foreign in the Eagles' schemes.

Now, the Pats (8-3) preparing for Indianapolis Colts (0-11)
third-string quarterback Dan Orlovsky, a player who hasn't seen meaningful
snaps since being at the helm for seven games while with the Detroit Lions.

But digging for tape to help solve the mysteries of these
unknown signal callers has become routine for the New England coaching staff,
so the defense is confident it will be properly prepared by Sunday.

"It's tough when you have a guy that you haven't really seen
much of and you have to dig and dig and dig," defensive tackle Vince Wilfork
said. "If that's what we have to do, that's what we have to do.

"We were in that situation earlier a couple weeks ago with
Kansas City and we had to find some clips and we did. I'm leaving it up to
(coach) Bill (Belichick) and those guys to find that stuff for us, which they
also do, to make it a little easier for us."

During his season running the offense for the Lions,
Orlovsky completed 56.1 percent of his passes and passed for eight touchdowns
and eight interceptions.

When throwing passes of 20 or more yards, he was 14 for 39
with four interceptions, and his 72.6 passer rating ranked 29th in
the NFL.

Orlovksy didn't throw a pass over the next two seasons and has completed 14 of 21 attempts this year for
the Colts.

Preparing for such an unaccomplished passer that typically
isn't good enough to get on the field for his team may make it seem like it
should be an easy week for the defense, but New England insists that isn't the
case.

"You got to go back and watch a lot of film on him," safety
Sterling Moore said. "You got to spend a little more time in the film room, but
that's every week at this point."

The Patriots have some recent film of Orlovksy from the
preseason, where he threw 54 passes, but they only need to get familiar with
how he operates since they don't expect the offense to change much from when
Curtis Painter was under center earlier this season.

Painter was relegated to a backup role this week after
passing for an average of 171 yards per game over Indianapolis' first 11 games,
placing him 31st in the NFL.

And even though some books have the Colts listed as 21-point
underdogs, Orlovsky thinks he will be able to manage the game just fine, even
if no one else does.

"I know it's a good opportunity and a good challenge,"
Orlovsky told reporters. "I'm looking forward to it. It'll be nice to go out,
compete, get hit, wake up Monday and feel sore. I'm looking forward to that."

He may not feel the same when he actually experiences those
lumps with the way the Patriots have handled the other backups they've faced.